Official Cavan GAA Thread

[full moon]

In my opinion, there are 3 elite teams in the country - Cork, Kerry and Tyrone. We happened to meet one of them and what happened, well lets just forget it. Are we worse than Louth, Sligo or Limerick?? Not a chance.

This delusion has to stop. 2 of them came within an inch of being provincial champions and Sligo probably will be next week.

There is no way at all this Cavan team would have got to the provincial final in either Leinster, Connaught or Munster.

Expectations like these add fuel to the fire. The sooner we realise we are one of the worst teams in Ireland the better.

For me, League form matters nothing. Inter county is all about the Championship. How many players have we seen over the years like Mackay, play good in the league and continue to bottle it in the Championship when it matters?

And yes, before some smart arse comes in, I know Mackey "had a decent game against Fermanagh two years ago".

[Dougal]

In my opinion, there are 3 elite teams in the country - Cork, Kerry and Tyrone. We happened to meet one of them and what happened, well lets just forget it. Are we worse than Louth, Sligo or Limerick?? Not a chance.

This delusion has to stop. 2 of them came within an inch of being provincial champions and Sligo probably will be next week.

There is no way at all this Cavan team would have got to the provincial final in either Leinster, Connaught or Munster.

Expectations like these add fuel to the fire. The sooner we realise we are one of the worst teams in Ireland the better.

For me, League form matters nothing. Inter county is all about the Championship. How many players have we seen over the years like Mackay, play good in the league and continue to bottle it in the Championship when it matters?

And yes, before some smart arse comes in, I know Mackey "had a decent game against Fermanagh two years ago".

so you agree that the football ability is there,but just not the mentality??i think thats what were all getting at when we say were as good as other teams.

[full moon]

In my opinion, there are 3 elite teams in the country - Cork, Kerry and Tyrone. We happened to meet one of them and what happened, well lets just forget it. Are we worse than Louth, Sligo or Limerick?? Not a chance.

This delusion has to stop. 2 of them came within an inch of being provincial champions and Sligo probably will be next week.

There is no way at all this Cavan team would have got to the provincial final in either Leinster, Connaught or Munster.

Expectations like these add fuel to the fire. The sooner we realise we are one of the worst teams in Ireland the better.

For me, League form matters nothing. Inter county is all about the Championship. How many players have we seen over the years like Mackay, play good in the league and continue to bottle it in the Championship when it matters?

And yes, before some smart arse comes in, I know Mackey "had a decent game against Fermanagh two years ago".

so you agree that the football ability is there,but just not the mentality??i think thats what were all getting at when we say were as good as other teams.

I don't think the mentality or ability is there. I just pay no attention to league form as we have seen time and time again the side to good enough in the league but come Championship time we are one of the worst sides in the country.

We beat practically the same Cork team two years ago in the league if I recall correctly or at least we really came close, says it all about the league for me.

[anglocelt39]

One thing that was absolutely clear in Cork last Saturday was that we did not have ONE leader on the pitch. Now at the simplest level you need 2/3 leaders on a team and the rest will go over the top with them. What's it due to, for the first time in god knows how many years we do not have one lad playing with us that has won a single thing wearing a Blue jersey. Lads that have won something at club underage levels in Ulster are generally not available for selection. It's fine saying Mchugh and Coleman were inspirational figures (they were) they were lucky enough to be able to build teams around a few lads that had won stuff along the way.

Some of Fitzpatricks comments in the Celt today were interesting, he suggested that there are a reasonable number of people on the panel that would not get near the Gaels side.................the biggest joke though was his assertion (probably correct) of disunity in the panel. Only a joke because we hear the same guff every year about how preparations are going well, everybody is knuckling down blah blah blah. You wonder sometimes if our local media would be doing us a favour by actually calling as they see it when they see it and not a week after we've been shamed (again) in the qualifiers. Cork are a super team, no doubt but make no mistake there are very few counties who would have surrendered so meekly as we did last week. Some of the Cork supporters were utterly shocked by what they saw.

On that depressing not I'll take a break

[Terry Coyle]

Full moon you reckon we dont have the ability to beat a Louth or Sligo team in championship. Could not disagree more with you. We have the ability to beat them teams, as well as Limerick, and look what they have done. What we need is to be able to up it once to another level of intensity once we hit Championship then we can compete and take these teams.

I think its worth pointing out here as well the level of commitment the panel have given over the last 7-9 months. Sacrificing weekends, weeknights for training/games. It can be easy for us talk behing a keyboard or on a pub stool but these lads have put the hard yards in. They will be back, but hopefully just with a better setup that can get the most out of them and help us reach our potential. We can make a second division side / last 12 champ with the right people there and then we can work from there.

[The Konica]

In my opinion, there are 3 elite teams in the country - Cork, Kerry and Tyrone. We happened to meet one of them and what happened, well lets just forget it. Are we worse than Louth, Sligo or Limerick?? Not a chance.

This delusion has to stop. 2 of them came within an inch of being provincial champions and Sligo probably will be next week.

There is no way at all this Cavan team would have got to the provincial final in either Leinster, Connaught or Munster.

Expectations like these add fuel to the fire. The sooner we realise we are one of the worst teams in Ireland the better.

For me, League form matters nothing. Inter county is all about the Championship. How many players have we seen over the years like Mackay, play good in the league and continue to bottle it in the Championship when it matters?

And yes, before some smart arse comes in, I know Mackey "had a decent game against Fermanagh two years ago".

so you agree that the football ability is there,but just not the mentality??i think thats what were all getting at when we say were as good as other teams.

I don't think the mentality or ability is there. I just pay no attention to league form as we have seen time and time again the side to good enough in the league but come Championship time we are one of the worst sides in the country.

We beat practically the same Cork team two years ago in the league if I recall correctly or at least we really came close, says it all about the league for me.

Agree

[The Konica]

Full moon you reckon we dont have the ability to beat a Louth or Sligo team in championship. Could not disagree more with you. We have the ability to beat them teams, as well as Limerick, and look what they have done. What we need is to be able to up it once to another level of intensity once we hit Championship then we can compete and take these teams.

I think its worth pointing out here as well the level of commitment the panel have given over the last 7-9 months. Sacrificing weekends, weeknights for training/games. It can be easy for us talk behing a keyboard or on a pub stool but these lads have put the hard yards in. They will be back, but hopefully just with a better setup that can get the most out of them and help us reach our potential. We can make a second division side / last 12 champ with the right people there and then we can work from there.

This is where we differ ... ability.

The only other more useless word used in sport is the word 'potential'.
All that matters is championship performance and based on championship games Cavan would get hammered by Sligo.
Ability. 'I have the ability to pull Jessica Alba, but I just didn't'. You could say every county have the 'ability', 'potential', call it what you will. Pubs, coffee houses and Junior B teams are full of 'ability'.

You have to ask though about the training also. What were they doing for 8 months that left them in such a state? How well were they prepared? Was that whole fight night thing a waste of time? I feel sorry for the genuine guy who sacrificed his time over the winter to end the year like that. But there's questions over that whole thing too.

[Terry Coyle]

Full moon you reckon we dont have the ability to beat a Louth or Sligo team in championship. Could not disagree more with you. We have the ability to beat them teams, as well as Limerick, and look what they have done. What we need is to be able to up it once to another level of intensity once we hit Championship then we can compete and take these teams.

I think its worth pointing out here as well the level of commitment the panel have given over the last 7-9 months. Sacrificing weekends, weeknights for training/games. It can be easy for us talk behing a keyboard or on a pub stool but these lads have put the hard yards in. They will be back, but hopefully just with a better setup that can get the most out of them and help us reach our potential. We can make a second division side / last 12 champ with the right people there and then we can work from there.

This is where we differ ... ability.

The only other more useless word used in sport is the word 'potential'.
All that matters is championship performance and based on championship games Cavan would get hammered by Sligo.
Ability. 'I have the ability to pull Jessica Alba, but I just didn't'. You could say every county have the 'ability', 'potential', call it what you will. Pubs, coffee houses and Junior B teams are full of 'ability'.

You have to ask though about the training also. What were they doing for 8 months that left them in such a state? How well were they prepared? Was that whole fight night thing a waste of time? I feel sorry for the genuine guy who sacrificed his time over the winter to end the year like that. But there's questions over that whole thing too.

Jesus Christ if we (or more importantly the players) dont believe we can compete with these teams then we are doomed.

[The Konica]

Full moon you reckon we dont have the ability to beat a Louth or Sligo team in championship. Could not disagree more with you. We have the ability to beat them teams, as well as Limerick, and look what they have done. What we need is to be able to up it once to another level of intensity once we hit Championship then we can compete and take these teams.

I think its worth pointing out here as well the level of commitment the panel have given over the last 7-9 months. Sacrificing weekends, weeknights for training/games. It can be easy for us talk behing a keyboard or on a pub stool but these lads have put the hard yards in. They will be back, but hopefully just with a better setup that can get the most out of them and help us reach our potential. We can make a second division side / last 12 champ with the right people there and then we can work from there.

This is where we differ ... ability.

The only other more useless word used in sport is the word 'potential'.
All that matters is championship performance and based on championship games Cavan would get hammered by Sligo.
Ability. 'I have the ability to pull Jessica Alba, but I just didn't'. You could say every county have the 'ability', 'potential', call it what you will. Pubs, coffee houses and Junior B teams are full of 'ability'.

You have to ask though about the training also. What were they doing for 8 months that left them in such a state? How well were they prepared? Was that whole fight night thing a waste of time? I feel sorry for the genuine guy who sacrificed his time over the winter to end the year like that. But there's questions over that whole thing too.

Jesus Christ if we (or more importantly the players) dont believe we can compete with these teams then we are doomed.

I think you've just described the situation.

On the other hand if Cavan aren't realistic they'll continue to ignore how bad the situation really is.

[mylestheslasher]

People are knocking Hyland a bit too easy here. Ok, I know the man isn't a tactical genius or his warm up drills down have the new wave of sports experts drooling but you know football is a simple enough game. I get the feeling that players are waiting for some sort of Messiah to come along and tell them if you warm up like this and stretch like that you will win the all ireland. Professional set-ups don't win matches. Effort, hunger, pride, belief and motivation are the prime ingrediants. Lads have to understand they can't look to some fitness guru to make them win, it needs to come from themselves. I would be looking for a man that motivates. Micko is that type of guy but not sure if he would fit the bill. I don't know what Hylands motivational skills are but there must be something about him that gets results?

[cavanmaniac]

I really think Hyland would be at best a sidewards if not backwards step myles.

If you examine the problems with the outgoing setup, an inability to get all club players pulling together, an apparent failure to put a professional setup in place, and a distinct lack of quick-thinking nouse on the sideline during games are probably the main ones. I don't see Hyland addressing those, rather, he'll possibly entrench them further (in my opinion).

Perhaps if he was accompanied by someone, like Keogan was with Grimley, it would make more sense, but even at that I'd be very surprised to see someone like Hyland make a success of the Cavan job. He looks like the soft option, just because he's there sort of thing, it'd be a move that really lacks inspiration and ambition as far as I can see and although I'd naturally hope to be very wrong, it'd just continue the culture of ill-considered appointments and resulting mediocrity on the pitch.

Those are just the surface problems. Deeper lying is this notion that club players in the county seem to have developed - partly through lack of professionalism behind county manager appointments and partly through over inflated estimations of their own worth - that the county jersey doesn't choose them, they choose it. It's back to front, there's no real pride in the jersey and the tail is wagging the dog in effect - because the dog has lost his bite. The Cork result, the margin of defeat, the sheer gutlessness of it, will only enshrine the notion that the county jersey is not the honour it should be in intercounty terms but something more akin to the FCA in terms of the Defence Forces. A bit of a joke and a slight embarrassment, but the gear is good. The next managerial appointment is crucial in arresting this slide into the abyss.

Look, I don't know who the right man would be, I think we need to take a calculated punt like Wexford and Sligo did and show that we have actually thought about and analysed what the problems are before putting someone in place to address them. All we're doing otherwise is trying to choose a man to fix problems when we haven't sat down and pinpointed what the problems are in the first place - it's like chucking mud at a wall and hoping to Jesus some of it sticks.

But in closing, to paraphrase a wiser man than me, if Terry Hyland is the answer, it must be a very peculiar question.

[Denn Forever]

Quote from Cavanmaniac


.....I think we need to take a calculated punt like Wexford and Sligo..

Who would you suggest?  I ask because I have no idea of any potential candidates?  Is Dermot McCabe or Anthony Forde interested?  I have heard of no one who has expressed an interest. 

Who has managed Cavan Gaels in the last few years?  Maybe approach him.

[Celt_Man]

Good to see his Breffni experience didn't prevent Tommy Carr from getting straight back into "work" with the GAA - he is involved in the commentary on RTÉ radion from Croker today!!

[cavanmaniac]

Who knows DF? Maybe some of the lads here know of people in their clubs that have management potential.

Who has been in charge of recent McRory winning sides in Ulster colleges football, have lads like Mattie McGleenan any pedigree or is there any young hungry manager making a name for himself at those slightly lower levels, under the radar?

What about at Sigerson level, anyone know of anyone cutting a dash there? And maybe getting in the Gaels manager might not be such a bad idea.

I don't have the answers either I guess, but then again, I'm a lad tapping his opinion on to the internet and it's the county board that are suposed to take the lead in the matter. Maybe Ciaran Brady might be worth a go - local passion, some degree of experience, has a few medals - either way, we have to take a risk and build from the bottom up. Hyland would be a lazy, thoughtless option in my opinion

[The Konica]

I'll throw his name out there again ... Aidan O'Rourke